Reflexivity of Discomfort in Insider-Outsider Educational Research

Abstract

This paper discusses my position as an Arab Muslim woman researcher who is affiliated with a Western university, researching Arab Muslim Canadian women. I discuss how reflexivity has emerged as an element of my research endeavours. Various notions of reflexivity in educational research have been expressed in the literature, yet I focus on what it means to me as an insider-outsider researcher and how it characterizes my research endeavours. In this paper, I explore the complexity of occupying these multiple subjectivities.Cet article explore ma position comme chercheure musulmane arabe affiliée à une université occidentale étudiant la vie des femmes canadiennes musulmanes arabes. J’y examine de quelle manière la réflexivité a émergé comme élément de mes projets de recherche. Bien que diverses notions de réflexivité aient été soulevées dans la littérature, je cible ce que cela signifie pour moi en tant que chercheure initiée et observatrice ainsi que de quelle manière cela teinte mes recherches. J’y analyse la complexité d’incarner ces multiples subjectivités

Teachers’ Perception of Social Justice in Mathematics Classrooms

“…The hermeneutic process of interpretation requires reflexivity, a process of turning one's gaze back upon oneself and paying attention to how one's own pre-understandings and situation affect the people being studied, questions asked, data being collected and its interpretation (Berger, 2015). The reflexivity is thus, an active process that influences every stage of the research (Hamdan, 2009). Strategies such as repeating interviews with the same participants, member checking, journal writing and maintaining an 'audit trail' is related to decision to maintain reflexivity within a research study (Berger, 2015).…”

Embracing the Spiral

“…Ayesha’s journey as a feminist, narrative researcher required her to continually be reflexive and clarify how her research emerged from her personal experiences. In particular, Ayesha was confronted with “the reflexivity of discomfort” (Hamdan, 2009, p. 378) when conducting interviews and a focus group with other Canadian-born Muslim women in hijab. As she negotiated her simultaneous insider/outsider status, discomfort emerged from the surfacing of new understandings of self.…”

Internationalization and Teacher Education: What Dispositions Do Teachers Need for Global Engagement?

“…Rather than an event simply impacting the agent, the agent must also consider how their actions impact the context in which they are acting. In terms of global engagement, this entails not only acknowledging the impact of new knowledge or a new experience on oneself, but also how one fits into a global context through their actions and positionality (Hamdan, 2009). Reflexivity is a needed disposition as global engagement challenges learners to consider issues that transcend nation states and borders, such as climate change and an ever-growing equity gap among people around the world.…”